B-CLL cells with unusual properties

In studies concerning the interaction of B-CLL cells and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), we encountered one patient whose cells had several unusual properties. In addition to the B-cell markers, the CLL cells expressed the exclusive T-cell markers CD3 and CD8 and carried a translocation t(18,22)(q21;q11), involving the bcl-2 and Igλ loci. The patient represents the 4th reported CLL case with this translocation. The CLL cells could be infected and immortalized by the indigenous and by the prototype B958 virus in vitro. The T-cell markers were not detectable on the established lines. In all experiments the immortalized lines originated from the CLL cells. Their preferential emergence over virus-infected normal B cells may be coupled to the high expression of the bcl-2 gene due to the translocation. In spite of the sensitivity of CLL cells to EBV infection in vitro, no EBNA-positive cells were detected in the ex vivo population. In vitro, we could generate cytotoxic function in T-lymphocyte cultures which acted on autologous EBV-infected CLL cells. Therefore we assume that if such cells emerged in vivo they were eliminated by the T-cell response.